Former England Under 21, Aston Villa, Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion defender Liam Ridgewell has signed for Wigan Athletic from MLS franchise Portland Timbers on a six week loan subject to international clearance.

The London-born 30-year-old has amassed over 350 league appearances in his time in the UK, scoring 20 goals. He signed Portland Timbers last summer, for whom he played 14 times last season, scoring twice.

Latics manager Malky Mackay is delighted to have netted a player of such experience.

He said: “As soon as we found out Liam was a possibility, we moved quickly. We have him until the start of the MLS season in mid-February and hopefully we can make good use of his experience in that time.

“He is a top-pro who has spent the majority of his career in the Premier League but he also knows this league inside out having earned promotion with Birmingham and he will add the kind of experience that will be crucial to us at this time.”

Ridgewell began his career with West Ham United but was signed by Aston Villa as a 17 year old. He made his league debut on loan at Bournemouth a year later before breaking into Villa’s first team. He played against Latics for Villa, Birmingham and West Brom, scoring the opening goal in Latics’ 2-1 victory over Blues at the DW Stadium in March 2011.